Best Laid Plans
by Emmy2489
Summary: Following a tragic incident, the BAU discover that Dr Spencer Reid has been harbouring a truly Herculean secret. While the team remain conflicted between confusion and elation, it is unclear as to how Reid will react to his plans having gone awry... Rated M for forthcoming chapters. Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds/ its characters. However, my OCs and story are my own.
1. Chapter 1

**JJ's POV**

As I sat down in the waiting area of the emergency department, I meticulously ran through every detail of the events from the past hour. We had located our unsub, Tyler Levenson, as well as the five girls he had abducted over the past year, in an abandoned factory building just outside of Manassas. Garcia had sent us co-ordinates and Rossi, Spence and I had sped the thirty miles from our base, arriving twenty minutes later. Both Emily and Tara had contacted us from their whereabouts to let us know they were en route.

I dabbed at the tears that began streaming down my face as I recalled the penetrating smell of smoke as we approached the entrance to the factory. We had immediately called for back-up on our approach to the back entrance. I had been anxious and my heart had hammered violently in my chest; while fire had always been regarded as being one of the more volatile and unpredictable weapons used by criminals, since the child abduction case a couple of months earlier, it ignited a particular degree of trepidation in me.

The factory was pitch black. Smoke swam in the air around us, filling our lungs and making our eyes water. Thankfully, after searching the first part of the building, we were fortunate to find four of the girls passed out in what would have been a janitorial closet. After finding the first victim's pulse, I called an ambulance and knelt between them to administer emergency aid while Rossi and Reid split up in pursuit of Levenson and his last victim. A few minutes later, through the rapidly thickening smoke, I heard several gunshots and Rossi call out. I ran through a set of double doors to a large room, engulfed by flames.

Of all the awful scenes to which I had borne witness throughout my career, I know that what I saw in that room will remain burned into my memory. It was not Levenson laying on his back, bleeding out of a gunshot wound to his chest. It was not the last of his victims laying next to him, also bleeding from wounds to her leg and chest. It was Doctor Spencer Reid, my colleague, close friend and godfather to my children, laying on the cold tiles of the factory, bleeding from what appeared to be stab wounds to his abdomen.

Rossi was at his side, attempting to stem the blood flow with his hands. I ran to help, momentarily freezing upon discovering his already pallid complexion; all the blood had drained from his face and was now freely flowing out of two holes in his stomach. His clothes were saturated with blood. Instinctively, I reached down to apply pressure over Rossi's hands, but the blood kept coming through our fingers...I couldn't stop it...

Taking my hands, which were now laying limply in my lap, Tara and Emily brought me out of my morbid reverie. "We did everything by the book...I...I..." I tried to speak before Emily interrupted.

"There was no way we could have known, JJ. Clearly Kelly had been manipulated to such an extent that she defended Levenson. You cannot blame yourself for any part of this, Reid wouldn't want that" She attempted to reassure me.

"Emily's right, JJ, " Tara said soothingly. "We could not have predicted this, and even if there was some way we could have known Kelly would defend him, we wouldn't have been able to anticipate the shards of glass just lying on the factory floor..." She stroked my arm.

I considered their thoughtful words and saw the logic in them; I knew there was nothing more could have done - we had done everything according to protocol and in consideration of the profile. In order to maintain some semblance of sanity, I knew had to remember that. We could know nothing more until Spence gets out of surgery...if he gets out, a voice in the back of my head sadly reminded me.

At that moment, Rossi, with his arm wrapped firmly around a tearful Garcia, came to sit opposite us. "Any more news?" he asked.

"Not yet, he's still in surgery. There were a couple of nurses who wanted to know some more about what happened for his medical records but we wanted to wait for you," Tara explained. "I'll go and find them".

As she left, Garcia stood and sank into Tara's chair next to me,"I swear to God, boy wonder has been here too many times." Garcia spoke quietly, hugging my arm as she rubbed away the trails of moisture on her face. With my free hand, I took one of hers and squeezed it gently.

A few minutes of silence later, Tara returned with both a male and female nurse. Taking a seat next to Rossi, she nodded to the nurses, offering encouragement - we must look intimidating, I thought absentmindedly... Simultaneously, we all sat up straight, hoping they might also have some good news.

"I'm Lily and this is Jack," the female nurse said, smiling. "We would just like to talk through some of the particulars if that's not too much. It's just for the medical file and the doctors and next of kin might need it if any more decisions are to be made later on."

Both Rossi and I relayed our stories, which were noted down by Jack. Lily then explained how Spence's condition had deteriorated slightly between our arrival at the hospital and his going into surgery. "Can either of you tell us if there has been any developments?" I asked as she finished.

"Unfortunately, we don't have any more information at this stage. Doctor Ola is working very hard to ensure Doctor Reid has the best possible chance of coming through this." Jack smiled sincerely. We all nodded and individually thanked them for their help as they got up to leave.

"Oh, just so you know, we have contacted Doctor Reid's next of kin and she should be here as soon as she can," Lily said nonchalantly.

At that statement, we turned to each other, confused. Rossi spoke first, "I don't think that will be possible. Spencer's mother is somewhat unable to travel such distances at the moment." We were all painfully aware of Diana Reid's condition. As a mother, I could empathise with some of what she might go through when she inevitably discovered what had happened.

Lily nodded, "Yes, that's correct - there were instructions not to contact her until absolutely necessary so as not to worry her." I smiled at that, Reid thought of everything...but then? "We're talking about a - ", Lily glanced at Jack's notepad, " Doctor Amelia Greyling."

The sense of shared confusion deepened. Who on earth was Doctor Greyling? "Are you sure that's right? We don't know anybody by that name and Spencer's like family to all of us," Emily said what we were all thinking, her eyes squinting slightly as she searched her memory.

"We are quite sure Doctor Greyling was listed on his file," Lily spoke earnestly, " a-and she works right h-here at the hospital - we have paged her with instructions to come down here as soon as possible." Her voice faltered slightly as she continued, presumably a little flustered by our obvious incredulity, "w-we regret that we don't know when that might be; we don't know her personally but her schedule is likely to be pretty hectic." I almost laughed. We know that life, I thought solemnly.

"Thank you for your help, we'll just wait here for any news," Tara said kindly, shaking their hands.

As soon as the nurses departed, we all looked at Garcia. Perhaps for the first time since hearing of this awful incident, she smiled. Finding comfort in something safe and familiar, Garcia happily whipped out a small laptop from her bag. She began tapping speedily, "Doctor...Amelia...Greyling...". Though we were all clearly anxious to hear who this mystery woman was, she abruptly pulled the screen of the computer down almost as soon as she had finished typing. "Not that I'm usually reluctant to delve into the lives of random people, but do we really want to do this? If Reid wanted us to know who she is, he would tell us, right? Isn't this snooping?"

"This could lead to something personal; something we can't just ignore and pretend didn't happen if we wanted," Rossi said quietly.

I looked at Emily; her expression mirrored my inner conflict. Rossi was right - this was clearly private and our close friendship with Spencer would be better served by asking him about her in person. However, and while it was painful to think about, he was not here and we had no idea for how long that might be. It could be more beneficial for all of us, including Doctor Greyling, to face the potential outcomes of this awful situation knowing a bit more about the bigger picture, some of which we were evidently unaware of. Then another thought occurred to me, "I would like to know a little bit about the person authorised to make decisions about his care... I-I'm just struggling with trusting somebody I didn't know existed until five minutes ago, with his life. Even if she is a doctor..." I looked to my friends and colleagues.

Emily nodded in agreement, "how about we compromise with just demographics? We can ask her directly about how she knows Reid. She's a doctor so she might be treating him. Though, she's obviously important to him to be his next of kin." It felt like Emily was addressing an ever-growing elephant in the room; Doctor Greyling might be a special person in Spence's life. I frowned at the thought - why would he keep that from us?

"Ok, let's go-" Garcia interrupted by musings, "Amelia Florence Greyling, born in London - always glorious - 29 years old, lives right here in Virginia - good lord - she's girl wonder! She finished school at 15, got her first degree and PhD in psychology by the time she was 20; then she enrolled at Harvard Med and graduated top of her class. She has recently finished her residency here before being promoted to deputy head of Paediatric Surgery. So, going back to what you said Emily, unless Reid has developed a condition similar to that of Benjamin Button, I doubt she would be his doctor..." she looked up at us before continuing, "wow - she's currently enrolled as a PhD student at Oxford back in England - though for what, your guess is a good as mine... She volunteers for everything, homeless charities, children's centres, you name it. She's also really pretty, look!" Animated, Garcia turned her laptop around to reveal a photo of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman. She was classically beautiful; her eyes were big; her long, slightly wavy hair was cut to frame her face; her perfect smile practically radiated through the computer screen.

"Well, she certainly looks and sounds like a decent human being. Not my type, though." a familiar voice said from my left.

Turning, we found Derek sitting beside Emily. "When did YOU get here?!" Garcia screeched on my other side.

"Slow your roll, baby girl. Rossi dropped me text," Derek's playful expression grew more solemn, "poor kid, why is it always him, shot... _twice_..., drugged, also twice, now this. My god."

"Tell us about it," I agreed.

"How long has he been under?"

"A few hours now, we're just waiting. Though I suppose no news is good news," Tara explained, hopefully.

We fell silent for a few minutes before Derek chimed in again, "so who's the girl?"

"That's the question," Emily began, staring at the photo still open on Garcia's laptop, "or rather, who is she to Reid?"

At that moment, the double doors behind Derek, Emily, Garcia and I burst open. Though I turned quickly, in my periphery, I saw Rossi lean into his chair, "looks like we're about to find out".

 **A/N:**

Hello readers :)

I'm really excited to share this story with you - I've not really done anything like this before so I hope it's ok and that you enjoy it!

Any feedback is very much appreciated. I aim to update every week, but if I have any spare time, chapters might be published more frequently!

Best,

Em


	2. Chapter 2

**JJ's POV**

Garcia snapped her laptop shut as Doctor Amelia Greyling ran through the waiting area toward the nurses' station, her thick blonde hair falling to her waist as she pulled a colourful surgical cap from her head. She wore a dark green wrap-around dress, and flat, black pumps with tiny bows on them. Her pressed, white doctor's jacket billowed around her tiny frame as she came to an abrupt stop at the desk. She was a lot shorter than expected, and most certainly _a lot_ shorter than Spencer, I noted. Thankfully, the waiting room was almost empty, so we could hear every word she said in her much more expected, unmistakeably British, accent.

"I'm Amelia Greyling. I'm so sorry, I had a neonatal surgery, I only just got your page. Tell me everything... _no wait_...can I have his file and chart?" her voice, as well as her outstretched hands, shook. Whether that was from adrenaline or nerves, I could not tell. Lily located and handed her the folders with a reassuring smile, to which Doctor Greyling replied her thanks before walking much more slowly to a set of soft chairs, across from our small gathering. We watched intently as she sank into the worn fabric, reading intently. She quickly began tapping her foot and biting at the nail on her left index finger. _Definitely_ nervous or rather, terrified _._

"What do we do?" Derek leaned in to ask me. I shrugged in response, not entirely sure myself.

Suddenly, after a few minutes of scanning Spence's files, Doctor Greyling pulled out her phone and dialled quickly. "Good evening Martha, please could you do me a massive favour - are you anywhere near the OR floor? ...OK, awesome, please can you go to the gallery of OR 5 and get me an update on Doctor Spencer Reid... Thank you." As she patiently waited for a couple of minutes, I felt us collectively lean toward her nest of chairs. "That's great, so no complications so far, just straightforward repair?...Thank you so much, you're a star... Yes, I'll see you on rounds...OK...goodbye." She exhaled heavily as she ended the call, her free hand falling from her temple to rest on her stomach.

 _Thank God_ , I thought. Catching each other's eyes, we smiled, altogether more relaxed.

"Doctor Greyling?" Lily leaned down to present her with a clipboard, "please could you fill out some paperwork? It's just generic information." She hastily dropped into a crouch, but despite her efforts, I could still hear her attempt at a whisper, "there's a part about meds you will need to confirm. As I'm sure you're aware, Doctor Reid sustained significant trauma and we would usually recommend a strict regimen of pain medication following surgery but it is indicated that this is not what he wants?"

Interestingly, while Lily appeared confused, Doctor Greyling simply nodded. "I understand your concern, but I can confirm his choice. His pain management programme must not include opioid meds. He has always been clear on that."

That she obviously knew of Spence's struggles following his kidnapping and torture at the hands of Tobias Hankel, did not immediately come as shock to me. It only led me to further believe that he had been hiding somebody close to him from us and presumably, the rest of the world. I just could not fathom why. Garcia, Emily and Derek's expressions indicated their own confusion. How could somebody so unfamiliar to us, she could have been anybody on any street, anywhere in the world, come to be so important to a person we all considered family?

"Ok, thank you," Lily scribbled on her notepad, "could you fill out the rest of his details, please? Anything you don't know, just leave blank and we'll do some digging," the nurse smiled reassuringly.

"Of course -" she smiled as looked for the nurse's badge, "Lily - sorry I didn't catch your name earlier. Of course, that's no problem. Also, I've just spoken to one of my residents and Doctor Reid's surgery is going well. If anyone is waiting to hear any news, please could you let them know."

Both Garcia and I tensed as Lily looked up to meet our transfixed eyes. "U-u-um, maybe you could tell them yourself?" Lily gestured to us before scurrying back to the nurses' station, earning a quizzical look from Doctor Greyling before she turned and took in Garcia, Emily, Derek, Rossi, Tara and myself staring at her.

We all abruptly looked down. Emily fiddled with her hands. Derek re-arranged his legs. Tara cleared her throat.

As the awkwardness started to intensify, I heard her small footsteps creep toward us. "I'm sorry, I had no idea you were all waiting for news. Everything is going well as far as I...or rather my informant, can tell." I met her gaze as she finished speaking. "I'm Amelia, I-I... h-hello," she stammered.

"No, please forgive us, we didn't want to interrupt. Thank you for your help, Amelia." Rossi stood to shake her hand, which she accepted gratefully, with a smile. "I'm Dave Rossi, this is Tara Lewis, Penelope Garcia, Jennifer Jareau, Emily Prentiss and Derek Morgan," he gestured to each of us in turn. She smiled and waved to all of us as he finished.

"It's really lovely to meet you all, " she spoke clearly but a hint of sheepishness undercut her tone, as if she was holding something back.

Derek, obviously having detected this too, leaned forwards as he spoke, "Again, please forgive me, but you seem to have us at a disadvantage. We have no idea who you are, but, and correct me if I'm barking up the wrong tree here, you don't appear to have just been confronted with a bunch of total strangers. You know who we are?"

Amelia smoothed her dress as she sat down adjacent to Garcia. She opened her mouth twice to speak but said nothing, clearly struggling with our inquisitive expressions. She stared down at her restless fingers for a moment before starting, "I do; I-I know of all of you. I can appreciate how completely bizarre that is. I-I know and I'm sorry. I wish we could have had this conversation under more fortunate circumstances," she looked at each us as she spoke. "Spencer and I, we-we're...we're" as she faltered, I trusted my instincts.

"You're together, right?" I asked softly.

She seemed grateful for my having said the words, "Yes. We met when I was a surgical resident here, over two years ago now-"

" _Two years?!_ " Garcia interrupted, articulating our mute disbelief, " _how_ has he kept you a secret for _this_ long?! _Why?!_ "

"There were a few points when he almost told you, but something always happened which led him to decide against it..." she stopped, staring at her hands again. "He was worried about me getting tangled up in your work; that someone might try to hurt me. I didn't totally agree with him, but I was happy to wait until he was ready. It wasn't my place to interfere."

"Oh, Spencer," Rossi rubbed his temple.

Both Tara and Derek appeared truly stunned; Garcia gawked, clearly lost for words. Emily mirrored my expression once again; we were not totally surprised given what we had discovered beforehand.

Ultimately, Spencer wasn't wrong, our job was dangerous and our loved ones had been thrown in harms way on more than one occasion as a direct result. I thought about Haley, Will, Maeve, Savannah, Hotch and Jack. Spence had been trying to protect Amelia and within that, his heart. While it was undoubtedly difficult for us to hear that he had been hiding her for such a long time, I could appreciate his reasons.

Importantly, this was not Amelia's fault and she had to know that. "Thank you for telling us," I tried to reassure her that we were not angry with her, "this is just a lot to take in on top of everything else."

Tara reinforced my words by reaching across the chair to her left and taking Amelia's hand, "Please don't worry yourself. You're important to Spencer so you're important to us now. We have to stick together."

Obviously having regained composure, Derek chimed in, "Tara and JJ are right. This is a shock. It's not you, we're happy Spencer has you. My God, I've hoped that he'd find somebody for so long, he's brilliant but he's missed out on so much. I know that, now."

Amelia smiled, "Thank you, Derek. I'm certainly happy to have him, too." I noticed we all grinned at that. "And yes, congratulations on your marriage and baby boy, that must have been lovely-" she frowned, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't prattle on about your lives when you know nothing about me."

"Don't worry. It's quite alright, and thank you, it's really amazing," Derek reassured her kindly.

"Would it help if I told you a little about me?" she offered, before adding "unless you've already looked me up?" she smiled, glancing at Garcia.

"Guilty as charged," our tech-analyst held up her hands, giggling. "Only basic stuff though. I'm so happy you're British, I love England. You're smart too, that's good, you'd never be able to keep up with Reid if you were out of your wits. You're a paediatrician right? That must be so cute!" Garcia babbled, earning a laugh from Amelia.

"I work with a lot of children, yes. They are indeed, very sweet!"

"Do you want kids? ...oh my gosh, sorry, that's too much." Garcia gushed before clapping her hands over her mouth and staring at the floor, mortified. Amelia didn't look too phased, though I imagined as a surgeon, she had to have good control over her facial expressions.

"On that note, I'm going in search of coffee." Emily got up, laughing to herself.

"I'll join you." Derek and Rossi said in unison, following.

"I'm so sorry, I have no filter. I'm sure you know that too. I'm just overwhelmed with sad and happy news. Reid is undergoing life-saving surgery, but his girlfirend, who until five minutes ago, we never knew existed, is sat right here." She put her hands to her temples, "it's all so overwhelming!"

The word 'girlfriend' momentarily threw me; it was appropriate but indeed, quite overwhelming to place such a label on Amelia. After all this time, Spence had decided to share his life with someone. I was happy for him, but I wished I could speak to him about it all and how he arrived at the decision to keep her a secret.

Avoiding the topic until we knew more, I added, "speaking of, how much longer do you think he'll be in surgery?"

"I'm not sure. One of my interns is in the gallery watching and she said that things look good so far. The Head of General Surgery and one of our best trauma surgeons are working on him, so he's in excellent hands." I felt confident in her words, especially as she would know a lot more about what was going on than we could ever hope to. "I'll call down again in a while. I would go down myself, but they would never let me in!" she laughed morbidly.

"We're really glad you're here with us." Tara said kindly, pausing before leaning back, "so Garcia informed us you're a psychologist as well as a surgeon? That's pretty impressive!" I settled into my chair, grateful for Tara's interjection and interested to hear more about Doctor Amelia Greyling.

Amelia relaxed slightly, "yes my first degree and PhD was in psychology. I investigated the impact of trauma in children and their families, specifically looking at the interactions between demographic variables."

"That sounds amazing. Are you still active?"

"Somewhat. My medical training threw a spanner in the works a bit, and I'm currently working on another PhD in children's literature. I'm still really interested in childhood trauma so I've been writing short stories as part of a rehabilitative programme to aid their treatment. Alongside my work here, I don't have that much time for my research anymore!" Amelia relaxed in her chair as she spoke, more comfortable with the change in conversation.

"That would be your third doctorate, right? Looking to match our resident genius?" Garcia laughed, completely taken by the beautiful British lady.

Amelia grinned a wide, toothy smile. "I'm pretty sure that even with a lifetime of study and research, I could never match Spencer. I've never encountered anybody like him," she looked pensive, suddenly.

"You and the rest of the world," I smiled. "We would be lost without him."

 **A/N:**

Thank you all for reading! I really wanted this chapter to shed a bit more light on Amelia and I hope I achieved that. The next few chapters will include more of her and Spencer's POV but given the nature of the story, I thought it would be better starting off with a member of the BAU. There's so much more, including a few more big surprises, to come! I hope you all stay with me :)

Thank you so much for all the views, follows and favourites! Reviewers, thank you for such positive feedback on my first chapter - I hugely appreciate it!

Stay tuned for the next chapter...

Best,

Em


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**

Sorry for the wait for this chapter - there were some parts that I was just not as happy with! Thank you so much for all of your thoughts on what else might be going on. Let's see, shall we?!

 **JJ's POV**

Thanks to our newfound medical connections, two hours later, Derek, Garcia, a freshly-showered Rossi, Emily, Tara and myself sat around a circular, snack-laden table in the attending doctors' lounge. Amelia had joined us thirty minutes ago with a favourable update on Spencer from her intern before falling asleep on the sofa next to our table. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun on top of her head; she wore tight, maroon jeans and an oversized white sweater and a familiar purple scarf - one of Spence's, no doubt - hung loosely around her neck. She laid against her right forearm, her left arm hugged a cushion to her stomach, her hand curled around a half-filled water bottle.

"Have we heard from Alvez, yet?" I asked Rossi. Our newest member of the team had been called away before the Levenson case. He had been following a few leads in relation to the remaining fugitives that had escaped from jail earlier in the year. Rossi had left him a message to let him know what had happened.

"He sent his apologies for not being here and asked us to update him on Reid's progress, which I have done. He said he'll be here as soon as he can get away." Rossi looked down at his phone as he spoke.

Silence fell over us as we slowly made our way through the plethora of food on the table. As I'm sure everybody else had done, I thought again about Spence keeping us in the dark about Amelia. She was an important part of his life that he had chosen to hide from us. I saw his reasons well enough but I could not see how he thought it would work out. He couldn't live like that forever... _could he?_

Emily touched my arm, "Are you OK, JJ?"

"I'm just thinking. Don't get me wrong, Amelia is lovely, really amazing, but...?" I put my half-eaten biscotti down and wrung my hands together. "I know Amelia explained that he wanted to protect her, and I get that, but if he wanted to stay with her, he couldn't keep her a secret forever. Its not practical. He must have known that." Truly, I could not fathom how Spence had arrived at his decision.

"I'm not even on the team anymore. He could have come to me." Derek said, the hurt still reverberating through his tone.

"Don't take it personally, guys. This was all about her safety, he probably ran the probabilities and didn't want to take any risks." Rossi reassured us with a smile before plucking a handful of grapes from the fruit bowl in the center of the table.

"How do you think they met?" Tara asked absentmindedly, her eyes on the sleeping lady behind her.

"She's a doctor, her schedule is as bad, if not worse, than ours," Emily stated.

"You've got that right," Derek agreed. "Maybe they met on the morning coffee run, or at bookstore or conference - they're both academics."

" _When_ does he see her, though?" Emily asked quietly, disbelief still evident in her tone.

"I have no idea when or how, but whatever is going on, they're clearly making it work," I said.

"Ok guys, don't be mad. I couldn't wait for Reid to explain..." Garcia trailed off as we collectively stared at her. She had been tapping away on her laptop for the last hour, God only knew what she had been up to. Though from her trepidation, I could take a guess.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I just wanted to find out what I'd missed! How has Reid managed to keep her from us? There must have been signs. I was worried we had neglected him, what with all the drama recently." Garcia looked up to find us all staring her, anticipating whatever highly illegal and intrusive, but otherwise genius way she had used to find out more about Spencer and Amelia. Resuming her typing, she continued, "OK, so following some world-class snooping, I've discovered that over the past two years, when you've all been away on a case, he leaves a voicemail at the same number almost every night - and before you ask, no I haven't listened to any, I'm weird but I'm not creepy weird. If you were to place a bet that that number belongs to Amelia, you would be onto a winner."

"Right, so he calls her to say goodnight. I try to do that for Will and the boys, too. I'd say we could have noticed that, but he probably did it privately," I said softly.

"What about when we were not on a case?" Derek asked.

"A-ha, well that's where things got interesting. Nothing at all, no phone calls, _nada_ \- which got me thinking. Under what circumstances would that occur?

"If he got to see her in person every night?" Tara squinted as if deep in thought, though her tone suggested she was stating the obvious.

"And in what kind of relationship would you see each other every single night unless work called you away?" Garcia probed.

"They're living together." Derek and Tara said unison. Derek leaned back in his chair, mystified once more.

"You are correct my dears. God, I've missed this, it's like old times!", Garcia touched Derek's arm tenderly, continuing her typing, with one hand. "I _obtained_ his records with HR and about eight months ago, he changed his address to a charming suburban house, just east of Southbridge, belonging to one Doctor Greyling."

"That's a big step for Reid," Emily noted.

"Is it just them?" I asked warily. At that point, I was confident that for all we knew, Spence might have a brood of children running about the place.

"In terms of fellow humans, yes. Amelia is the registered owner of a Norwegian forest cat and Welsh Corgi, so they have some company."

Suddenly, Amelia's pager bleeped, bringing her out of her slumber. She checked the pager and stretched before looking over to us. "I'm sorry, I have to consult on a case - neonatal head trauma. I'll be as quick as I can." She grabbed her doctor's coat that had been draped over the back of the sofa.

As she got up to leave, an older man walked through the door. He was tall; wore a suit and carried an air of authority. "Don't move Amelia. As of an hour ago, you're on leave. Maynard has taken over your patients."

"Sir, that really is not necessary right now, I can con-"

"Amelia, you're a surgeon and your partner is in surgery. You can't stress yourself out."

"I have a head trauma in paediatrics, I have-"

"Maynard has it covered, Amelia. Turn off your pager, and I don't want to see you for at least two weeks."

In addition to the authority with which the older man spoke, I detected a hint of something else - concern? Clearly, if he was a colleague, he would be concerned but I could tell there were unspoken words between them. Amelia's restless arms and hands only added to my suspicions. I looked at Emily, also pre-occupied by the young doctor's nervous movements.

"Ok," she removed the pager from the waistband of her jeans, turned it off and dropped it into the distressed leather backpack next the the sofa. "But, please, if I'm needed; if there are any serious newborn traumas, please call me. I'll be here, day or night."

"Of course, my dear," the man touched Amelia's shoulder. As he turned to leave, he said "you're one of our best, Amelia. You're right, the children need you. But there will always be children that need you. Right now, somebody else needs you more."

"Who was that?" Garcia asked as the door of the lounge closed.

"The Chief of Surgery, Dr Bray."

"He seems pretty serious." Derek commented.

"He kind of has to be but he's rather sweet underneath all the seriousness, " Amelia smiled before sinking back into the sofa.

We fell silent for a while, lost in our thoughts of Spence, no doubt. Amelia sat with her head cocked slightly to one side, with her arms crossed over her abdomen, her hands clutching each elbow. I could sense something was bothering her and I wasn't convinced it was just Spence's surgery. Five minutes later, she spoke again, "I'm going down to the canteen to get something - I haven't eaten since before my last surgery - do any of you need anything?"

Rossi laughed, gesturing to the pile of food on the table, "we're all good here, I think".

Emily looked at me before she spoke, "I need some better coffee, JJ?"

"Good idea," I replied, following Amelia through the door.

We walked through the corridors in companionable silence until the canteen came into view. It was large, well-lit but scarcely occupied. Emily seized the opportunity, "how are you coping with this, Amelia?"

"I know this must be overwhelming, having Spence on the table and his colleagues scrutinising you. I hope we haven't upset you," I added.

"No, no - I'm fine. Like you said, it's just overwhelming," she said. An average person may have believed her but Emily and I were not fooled. Looking at each other, we silently agreed not to push the issue. For now, at least.

However, clearly not noticing the canteen employee walking past with a cart full of dishes to be washed, Amelia turned away from us quickly, attempting to approach the deli counter and escape the questions, no doubt. Flight in its purest form. She gasped, her arms wrapping around her stomach. For the second time that evening, I trusted my instincts. Her hands falling to her stomach as she learnt Spence's surgery was going well; clutching her arms across herself and shielding her torso with the sofa cushion were not accidental actions. They were natural.

Touching her shoulder, I whispered, "you're pregnant, aren't you?"

Emily's eyes widened, shocked once again. Amelia stared at me for a short moment before averting her gaze. Her eyes filled with tears.

"Shh, it's ok." I led her to a small table. Emily grabbed a jug of water and three glasses from a nearby island of condiments, salad and cutlery. She sat next to Amelia and held her hand after pouring a glass for each of us.

"I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised," she said as tears rolled down her cheeks. Briefly, she laughed, "what with you all studying human behaviour for a living, I was worried at least one of you would figure it out. I just didn't think it would be this fast!"

"Don't worry, I don't think any of the others suspect anything. I could just tell something else was going on and I'm a mother; I recognised the signs. But we won't tell them, this is between us until you and Spencer decide otherwise." I took her other hand.

"JJ's right. This is your news. If the the others have noticed anything, they probably think you're worried about Spencer's surgery. Truly, that you might be pregnant never crossed my mind," Emily reassured her.

"Please try to stay calm..." I trailed off, stopping myself. Part of me inwardly cringed when I re-registered where we were and what her job was; she would obviously know the importance of minimising stress during pregnancy. I didn't want to undermine her when she was so upset.

Amelia looked down, tears falling quickly. "It's... j-just...I f-f-feel..." she took a deep breath to compose herself, "I-I feel like I'm betraying Spencer. He doesn't know. He doesn't know that you all know about me and now you both know about this, before I got to tell him anything. I wanted to tell him first."

I immediately felt awful. "I'm sorry things have turned out this way. But Tara was right earlier: we have to stick together now. We just want you to know that we're here for you." Squeezing her hand, I continued, "and you'll still get to tell him. He's made it through so much, he'll make it through this and he'll be so incandescently happy when you tell him. Nobody else will know unless you tell them. But please, let us know if you do want to talk about it, any time. We're here." I tried to catch her eye as I smiled.

"Thank you, JJ." She smiled, albeit weakly, at me before looking to Emily, "Thank you too, Emily. You're both very kind."

"Do you mind me asking how far along you are?" I tried to distract her.

"Eight weeks." She looked at her hands.

"So you should be having your first scan soon?"

"Yes, I have one booked in for a few days' time. I had hoped Spencer and I could go together," she looked up at me, tears threatening to spill over into the wet trails already staining her cheeks.

"You still will... I mean, I don't know how recovery works after abdominal surgery, but I'm sure that once you tell him, come hell or high water, Spencer will make sure he's there." Emily attempted to reassure her again.

She chuckled, "I know he would..." We smiled. "I'll focus on that. You know, it's so bizarre. I'm used to talking to people struggling with their loved ones being in surgery. I'm used to running through the motions of what to say and when to say it; to controlling my facial expressions and attempting reassurance even when I know it's likely to be completely futile. It's so difficult when it's you."

"I can appreciate that." I took her hand, "with that in mind, do you want some time to yourself for the moment? I'd be lying if I said we were not intrigued by the woman we all hoped Spence would find, but we don't want to crowd you or make you uncomfortable when the situation is already difficult."

"Thank you, I think I'd like to go sort myself out a bit and eat something." She gestured to her tear-stained face.

"Ok, we'll leave you for now and go back to the others."

"Wait," she touched Emily's arm and looked over at me. "if you still want that coffee, I have the best. Here," she pulled a set of keys from her pocket. "My office is next to the attending doctors' lounge, blue key, knock yourselves out. And...thanks again, both of you," she smiled.

"It's our pleasure," Emily returned her smile before we walked away.

Ten minutes later, we stood in Amelia's office, waiting for the coffee press. The room was was small, tidy and smelled of jasmine. The walls were painted a dark green, though most of them were covered by bookcases full of journals and textbooks. A large, mahogany desk occupied the majority of the space, with a chair placed both behind and in front of it. A bonsai tree grew to the left of computer monitor; to the right I noticed a photo, framed in beautifully carved, white roses. The photo depicted Amelia, holding a glass of champagne. She was dressed in a floor-length, blue gown, encrusted with thousands of sequins that gleamed under the lights above her head. Behind her stood Spence, dressed in a tuxedo; one of his hands also held a glass while the other rested on her waist. While Amelia smiled brightly, he looked down at her, almost unaware of the photograph being taken.

"They're a beautiful couple," Emily commented, passing me a cup of coffee.

"They certainly are," I agreed.

"What's the matter?" she replied knowingly.

"There's so much we don't know; he's got a life that we never knew existed."

Emily rubbed my shoulder. "I know. We'll sort this; don't worry JJ. Let's go," she gestured to the door.

We left Amelia's office to join our friends and colleagues back in the lounge. Interestingly, they were upstanding as we entered the room.

"It's about time you two showed up," Derek said almost accusingly.

"That's got to be the longest coffee on record." Rossi agreed.

"Reid is out of surgery." Garcia responded to our confused expressions.

"Where's Amelia?" I asked, grabbing my jacket and go-bag.

"Presumably already in the ICU. Martha - her intern - called her before running up here." Tara replied.

"Let's go," Derek walked past us to open the door.

 **A/N:**

Clearly, you're all brilliantly perceptive (that, or my clues were less than subtle!) and Amelia is indeed, pregnant. I hope this chapter did not disappoint!

Thank you all once again for the views, follows and favourites. Thank you so much to all reviewers - I have really enjoyed reading your thoughts and it's really reassuring to hear that you're enjoying the story.

I've tried to situate this story a little more clearly as nestled within the current season - hence the mention of Alvez and absence of Hotch. I will obviously deviate from whatever happens but I just wanted to make it a little clearer.

So, how do you think Spencer will react to all this news? Let me know!

Best,

Em


	4. Chapter 4

**Amelia's POV**

I ran. Probably faster than I'd ever dared to run through the corridors of the hospital before. I could feel my hair falling out of its band as I rounded corners and barged through doors. The more rational part of my brain, however small at that point, questioned my reaction; Spencer would not be awake for at least another couple of hours and even then, he might not be entirely coherent. The instinctive part of my brain heard none of this; it implored my legs, again - however small, to move as fast as possible to find the man I loved.

Upon reaching the ICU, I practically fell into the nurses' station. Several nurses looked over quizzically. "Doctor Spencer Reid," I breathed.

"Could I have your name, please?" a tall woman with cropped, black hair asked pointedly.

"Amelia Greyling," I replied.

"Relationship?" she followed up.

"I'm his girlfriend," I said, gaining my breath back. The nurse took in my disheveled appearance and narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, but enough to get my back up.

"Let her through, Lynn, and anybody else who wants to see him. " Doctor Genevieve 'Eve' Ola, Head of Trauma Surgery and one of my closest friends, appeared from the back office. She wore an exasperated expression.

The nurse looked down at her computer monitor for a few moments before finally responding, "Room 11".

Eve stepped out from behind the nurses' station to walk me to Spencer's room. As we turned a corner, she reassured me, "ignore her, she's a colossal pain in the ass. She's good with the patients, but always seems to have problems letting family and friends in to see them!". When I smiled weakly, she stopped abruptly, pulling me back to look me in the eye. "He's fine, Amy. He lost a lot of blood but otherwise, it was straightforward. We took our time about it as we wanted to make sure there were no glass fragments anywhere and minimise the scarring. Right now, he's doing great. He might not be a few hours after he wakes up, given his refusal of any ongoing pain meds, but he'll make a full recovery." She smiled encouragingly at me.

"Thank you so much, Eve. I'm so glad it was you wh-who-" I felt my eyes filling again and quickly looked away.

"Amy, I know I don't need to tell you to not stress yourself out," she looked at me knowingly. As JJ had earlier, she was referring to Spencer's and my unborn child. As a paediatrician, I was acutely aware of the risks in the first three months of pregnancy and thus, the importance of looking after oneself. I briefly thought of the half-eaten sandwich I had left in the canteen; the fact that I couldn't immediately remember the last time I'd had any water or slept for more than three hours. I made a mental note to try harder.

As if she had read my mind, Eve ordered "go in there," she pointed to Spencer's room, "and for heaven's sake, get some sleep. He'll be out for a while still but you should be able to rest a bit easier with him being right there."

I smiled up at her, "thank you."

"It's my pleasure," she hugged me. "Now, as it's 4am, I'm going to get some sleep myself before rounds." She pulled back and rubbed my shoulder before walking back the way we came.

I jogged down the corridor and pushed open the door to Room 11. Lying in front of me, in the middle of the bed, was Spencer. I let the door close silently behind me and slumped against it, letting a lung's worth of air leave my body. Now that I saw him, sleeping peacefully, with a complete recovery in front of him, I felt a little better.

I moved slowly through the room to stand at his left side. His thick, long hair was fanned out on the pillow messily, exactly in the fashion it usually did every morning that I had woken up next to him. I picked up his hand and squeezed it gently before leaning over to kiss his forehead. Pulling the chair behind me forwards, I sat down and rested my head on his arm, my hand still around his. As I traced circles over his palm, my mind wandered to the last time we had been together...

I had wanted to stay up to wait for him, but twenty-two hours at the hospital, fourteen of which were spent in surgery, had made that a pretty bleak possibility. In an attempt to keep myself awake, I took our dog, Cecil, for a long walk; ate dinner; checked my email; showered and changed into my pyjamas at a snail's pace. Sadly, not long after I had propped myself up in our bed, book in hand, with some warm tea, I had fallen into a deep slumber.

I had woken to Cecil barking downstairs. As he barked at almost any other animal that wasn't his own reflection or our cat, Tilly, I didn't bother to move. Instead, I had pushed my book off the bed; switched off the bedside lamp and turned over. A while later, I felt the bed dip slightly before Spencer's arms snaked around my waist and under my head as pulled me to his chest. The smell that was uniquely him filled my nose; I fought against the sleep threatening to steal me away to lift my hand to his face. "You're back," I mumbled, looking up at him with sleep-filled eyes.

"I am, and you're tired," he chuckled before turning his head to kiss my palm. "Have you had a long day?"

"Mmmm, very. How was your case?" I dropped my hand from his cheek to his shoulder.

"It ended well, a five year-old girl was abducted from her front garden, but we found her before she was hurt."

"You don't sound like it was too much of a victory?"

"We didn't save the other children he had abducted before her. Children are completely defenseless and yet, people hurt them."

I pushed myself up to look him in the eye. Before I wrapped my arms around his neck, I had just been able to see his downcast expression as my eyes adjusted to the lack of light . "I'm sorry, sweetheart. You all did the best you could with what you had, like you always do. You saved a little girl and many more children that would have been hurt, had you not caught the person responsible," I whispered softly in his ear. I felt him pull my hair out of its bun before burrowing under it, something he often did when I consoled him.

Talking of children had reminded me of our baby. I had discovered that I was pregnant and had been waiting for the right time to tell Spencer over the past couple of weeks. Between his being away on cases and my being at the hospital, there was never time when we actually _had_ time before one of us had to be somewhere. I briefly considered telling him then, but it still didn't seem right if he had just got off a child abduction case. Given his anxiety around me being in danger because of his work, I didn't want to add to his worries by bringing up any children we might have. Instead, I had an idea.

Pulling back gently, I asked, "how soon do you have to be in tomorrow?"

"Emily said not to come in before ten-thirty, why?"

"Can we take breakfast to the lake and watch the sunrise?" I referred to one of our special spots, a small lake, nestled just beyond a meadow, ten minutes from our house. It was where we had shared our first kiss, or rather where he had stumbled into me and I has seized my opportunity! We had passed so much time there, sharing meals; talking about anything; watching the sun come and go. It was the perfect place to tell him that we were having a baby.

"Of course, any reason in particular?" His beautiful, hazel eyes squinted slightly as he considered the possibilities.

I chuckled, "no, I just wanted to spend some time with you." I eased my hands across his shoulders, to rest at the base of his neck.

Spencer smiled as he tightened his grip on my waist and pulled me closer. My eyelids fell as he pressed his lips to mine, inhaling steadily. I cupped his face and opened my mouth slowly, deepening the kiss. Feeling one of his legs curl around my hip, I caressed his cheeks with my thumbs before moving to his hair. His hands crept over my torso and under my camisole; breaking our kiss, he moved to my neck.

I felt warm; I knew where this would lead and while I loved and delighted in our intimate moments, we had to be up early to catch the sunrise. "S-Sp," I struggled to articulate myself as he continued showering kisses up and down my neck.

"Mmm," his lips vibrated in the hollow at the base of my throat, making me shiver.

Attemping to compose myself, I pushed away from him slightly. At his dejected expression, I replaced my hand upon his face, "As much as I want you, my love, we need to sleep if we're going to make the sunrise tomorrow."

He briefly looked over my shoulder to the clock on my nightstand, "It's 11pm?" He looked quizzically at me.

"Exactly, and we also need to function at work tomorrow, or people might die."

"I can't argue with that," he smiled.

"Good." I smiled back as I leaned over to kiss him goodnight before turning over. His arms came around me again, pinning my back to his chest.

We fell asleep in blissful silence. Little did I know, I would wake up at 5am to find Spencer gone. A note would be on his pillow, detailing that he was sorry for missing our breakfast; he had been called away on an emergency case and he would call me later. Under his note, would be his purple scarf. My favourite.

I lifted the same scarf to my face as listened to the steady beep of his heart rate on the monitor behind his hospital bed. With his arm under my cheek; his familiar scent filling my nose and my hand around his, I hoped for sleep. Only this time, I also hoped that he would wake up with me.

 **JJ's POV**

Derek, Emily and I looked through the narrow glass window in the door of Spence's room. Amelia was asleep on the edge of his bed, her face partially covered by Spence's scarf.

"Do we know when he'll wake up?" Emily asked.

"Nope, and I don't fancy talking to that sour-faced nurse to find out. What was her problem?" Derek referred to the reluctance of the nurse manning the front desk to tell us anything about Spence's condition.

"She's probably tired - its just after four-thirty in the morning," I dismissed her behaviour.

Derek look through the window again, "so, what do we think will happen when pretty boy wakes up? How is he going to react to us knowing about her?"

"I just hope he doesn't blame her and push her away," I commented.

"Surely not? He's so close to her," Derek questioned.

"I don't know; Spence can be cold when he wants to," Emily looked at me knowingly. Following her return to the BAU in pursuit of Ian Doyle, he had all but completely ignored us for weeks.

"But what was Amelia supposed to do? Ignore us? Sneak into his room in the dead of night after we'd gone home. Come on..." Derek looked us, confused.

"Exactly. No matter what he had hoped for, this was going to come out and it is not anybody's fault," Emily agreed.

"Well then it's up to us to make sure he doesn't ruin his own happiness because he gets a little mad," Derek resolved, smiling.

I looked at the sleeping lady clutching his arm and thought about the baby she was carrying. "Agreed, if anybody deserves to find and keep his happiness, it's Spence."

 **Amelia's POV**

I stirred, feeling something moving in my hair. I wiped the sleep from my eyes before checking my watch - just after seven in the morning. My stomach growled; I had to eat something. Considering my potential options, I decided on a croissant; though if I left it another fifteen minutes, Thomas from Orthopaedics would be bringing a fresh batch into the attending's lounge.

My eyes widened as I re-registered the weight on my head. Turning quickly, I stared straight into Spencer's eyes. He was awake.

"Hey," he rasped.

Instinctively, I stood and reached for the water jug, poured a cup and lifted it to his lips. With my free hand, I adjusted his pillow slightly to help him sit up. I started to feel strange as the relief washed over me.

"I'm sorry," he said after I had set the cup on the table.

"It's not your fault, sweetheart," I stroked his hair as he gazed up at me, his eyes searching my face. "Are you in any pain?" I asked, glancing to his abdomen, no doubt wrapped up in bandages.

"Not at the moment. I'm worried about you - were you working?"

"I'm fine, Spencer," I lied. In truth, I was not fine. I had prepared for the worst when I found out he had been hurt - my worst nightmare come true. I had tried to hold it together, not only for the sake of his friends and colleagues, but because of our baby and the danger of being stressed, which I had, incidentally, been reminded of by the chief, JJ and Eve at this point.

"I think I've got quite good at telling when you're lying. Tell me." Despite some grogginess, Spencer remained sharp.

"Well...it..it was a little bit of a fright," I said softly, tears springing to my eyes.

As I dropped my eyes to the mattress, I felt his arm snake around my waist. He nudged me forwards gently, "can you come up here?" I wanted to; I really wanted to. I wanted to climb into the tiny hospital bed and wrap myself around him, but my legs would not co-operate. When I didn't move, choosing instead to fiddle with my hands as the tears fell freely down my cheeks, he implored, "Amy, please. Don't hide from me."

I looked up to see the same dejected expression he wore when I had rebuffed his advances four days ago. Throughout our relationship, Spencer had struggled with physical closeness, both in the sense that he had had trouble adjusting to and initiating intimacy at first, but now distance, especially when I pulled away, also plagued him. I couldn't bear to see him so upset, but I felt like I was suffocating in an overwhelming fog of sheer relief. Thus, the tears continued to fall.

His lips quivered slightly. As he attempted to straighten his lips out of the inevitable frown into a smile, the same way he always did when trying to hold back tears, he repeated, "please". Spencer's voice broke and he tightened his grip on my waist. Gingerly, I looked up into his sad, desperate eyes.

I forced myself through the fog to scramble onto the bed. Avoiding his abdomen, I stretched out, as far as the bed would allow, diagonally across his chest. His arms crushed me to him before he pulled the last of my hair free from its band and burrowed underneath it.

"I'm so happy that you're ok," I whispered into his ear, "I don't know what I would have done if things had been different."

"I'm happy that you're here; that you were here when I woke up," his voice was still thick with tears.

I pulled back slightly to look into his eyes before lightly brushing my lips over his. We slowly sank into the pillows, lost in the embrace. I kissed him gently while he stroked my arms. As one of his hands dropped lower to graze my belly, I thought again of the baby I had yet to tell him about. As I wrestled with whether or not this was a good time, Spencer leaned up to touch his forehead to mine, "I love you, Amy. I know I can be difficult and I'm always leaving you on your own, but you're always in my thoughts, no matter where I am or what is going on."

I shifted so I could curl up by his side and rest my head on his shoulder. Looking up at him, I spoke softly, "I love you too, Spencer. And I know things can be tough, but that doesn't change how I feel about you." Mindful that I would have to eventually tell him that his colleagues and friends had discovered me, I added, "please, don't forget that."

He wiped the tear trails from my face with his thumbs before dabbing at his own. Smiling now, he rested his hand on my hip and kissed my hair. In light of what had happened to him, I silently chastised myself for my hesitance. I touched his cheek, "Spencer, now that you're here and you're ok, I have something I need to talk to you about."

"Is it bad?" I detected a hint of concern in his eyes.

"Not at all," I replied.

"Was it why you wanted to go to the lake?" He rumbled me.

I laughed, poking his chest, "nothing gets past you."

"Of course not, I could tell there was a reason you wanted to go," he looked a little serious and perhaps...slightly nervous.

"Well, I've been waiting for a good time to tell you but I couldn't find one. After what happened to you, I was terrified you might never find out." His confused expression willed me to continue, but I struggled to say the words. It wasn't even deep down that I knew; I knew with every fibre of my being, at every emotional and physical level, that this was what Spencer had wanted for so long and he would be so tremendously happy. Part of my struggle was that I had wanted to find the best manner of telling him, but also that I liked knowing that I could make him so happy with this news, and I wanted to hold on to that for a special moment.

Then, as if my brain had suddenly engaged and wanted to confront me with my own silliness, I considered that any moment any time, anywhere, would be perfect, because he would be so happy. Taking a breath, I shifted upwards, placed my arms around his shoulders and looked down into his eyes. "Spencer, in roughly eight months, we're probably going to have to come back to hospital. I-"

"Why?" he interrupted, both looking and sounding, alarmed, "are you sick? I thought you said it wasn't bad!"

"Calm down, you've just had surgery!" I looked at him seriously before softening, "No, I'm not sick." I smiled, picking up his free hand, and with both of my own, held his palm to my abdomen. "We're going to have a baby."

He stared at me, agog, as if in total disbelief, for exactly five seconds. A choked sob escaped from his mouth as tears fell down his cheeks once more. He lifted his hands to cup my face. "R-R-Really?" he asked.

"Yes, r-" he cut me off, kissing me sweetly.

After a few moments, he pulled back slightly, lingering at my lips. "We're going to have a baby, Amy!" he whispered excitedly. I could feel his wide smile as he touched his forehead to mine.

"We are!" his happiness and excitement radiated through me. I pushed myself up onto my knees and leaned up and over him. Letting my hair fall into a curtain around us, I kissed him much more passionately. Before I could internally question my actions, I reached behind him, loosened the tie of his gown and pulled it down to expose his chest. Albeit quietly, he exhaled as I lightly brushed my fingertips through the smattering of hair there. His hands were in my hair, holding my head gently as he sucked on my bottom lip. I pulled back to rest my cheek on his bare chest, breathing in deeply. Gently, he stroked my other cheek, before caressing my neck. His hand began to creep lower until he reached the the swell of my breasts, in unspoken request for permission to go further. As the reality of where we were re-entered my befuddled brain, I reluctantly untangled myself. I kissed his nose, "not here."

Spencer beamed up at me as as I re-tied his gown. As I leaned backwards to sit on my feet, he tugged at my jumper, "may I?"

Given that I had just stopped our physical explorations, I was a little unsure what he meant. Intrigued, I nodded.

He raised my jumper and the vest underneath to reveal my abdomen. Very gently, he flattened his right palm over my belly and softly stroked my skin with his index finger. He grinned at me before pointing behind himself and asking, "is there a way to raise this part of the bed?"

"Of course," I picked up the remote attached to the side of the bed and raised the back of the bed so he was in more of a sitting position. "Is that ok? I don't want to crumple you up."

"This is fine," he said as he placed his hands on my hips and pulled me upwards onto my knees. He reached up to caress my cheek before leaning forwards, pushing my clothes aside and pressing his lips to my belly.

I smiled down at Spencer's loving gesture, so happy with our little family.

Niggling in the back of my mind however, remained the prospect of telling him that his secret was no more...

 **A/N:**

 **Hello readers,**

 **Apologies for the update being later than planned; I've been quite busy over these past couple of weeks. As such, I've tried to cover a lot of ground here!**

 **Thank you for all the views, reviews, follows and favourites - I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I love hearing your thoughts, so please let me know what you think, especially in terms of the team finding out about Amelia** **!**

 **Best,**

 **Em**


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